Rode Hard

Remember this from a while ago?  There is no longer a heap of boxes, bins and suitcases on my living room floor.

Well, there wasn't - until Doug unloaded the van.  Now the pile is heaped high again and tomorrow I will try to sort, sift and hopefully put away as much of it as I can.  At least it is less than it was - the class materials were handed out, the seven boxes of homework returned.

Last night I could not, for the life of me, get to sleep.  I drove home today on about 2.75 hours of sleep.  If I could have slept in I might have gotten more, but everyone had to be up 'early' to begin their journey home.

What with one thing and another I wound up taking very few breaks and managed to stagger in the door in just under 12 hours from the time I left.  There was rain (not too hard today) there was road construction (Canada's second season - winter and road construction), there were delays due to several large (huge) oversize loads - all of which slowed traffic.  In the end I took fewer breaks - and paid for it with muscles seizing up.  Practically the first thing I did when I got home was make my way to the shower and have a long hot one.

I am trying to deal with an aging body, rode hard, put away wet too frequently by reducing the traveling I do and concentrating on the Olds program as the one that I feel teaches the principles of the craft.  Not everyone wants to dig this deep into the craft, but there has to be a core of people who do understand all the subtleties and why the most correct short form answer is 'it depends'.

All of the classes I have taught were just as passionate (for the most part) as I am about the craft.  You kind of have to be to invest this much time, effort and money in attending the five day class, sometimes travelling long distances to get there, being away from home, then the hours of homework when the in person instruction is over.

But I'm hopeful that this program will continue.  It has shown steady growth, with several satellite campuses (campi?) now offering level one, hopefully more levels as the students succeed in each year.  And I hear there are more locations interested in hosting more.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm through the pinch point in my schedule - sort of.  Tomorrow I move on with the rest of what needs doing.  My inbox is full to overflowing and I suppose the best way to begin is at the beginning and work my way through...